All Posts by Saerain

Originally posted by Tsnow

 

Originally posted by 28days

 Guess what - it isn't your place to judge if a piece of software is ready for release. That's the job of the publishers.

 

 

 Acctualy that's for the paying public to decide. V:SOH anyone

That wasn't deciding whether it was ready for release. Everyone involved in its development knew it wasn't ready for release. It was more ready for release in Beta 2 than it was in Beta 4 or later. The publisher didn't care.

At lease EVE is doing well.

Originally posted by Zoodoo

sorry if the title sounds abrupt, but iam a proud black man. It pains me to see that games like warhammer will be release any dark skinned color races, or have any true black people in the game, like for instance Vanguard and guildwars both have REAL black people with real black features, not just a white character with a dark shade skin option. This is what happens in warhammer, i know the old argument  "Because its in medivel times or what ever but there were black people then and very dark skinned color people then.  

This is not a medivel mmorpg its a mmorpg set in a different universe why cant black people or other races reside in Warhammer? This isnt trying to make a argument post but its ashame in most mmorpgs i can only play one race a human.

We went through this with Lord of the Rings Online as well, and the answer is the same here: while the setting includes Africa and South America, the online game does not encompass those landmasses.

Vanguard had proper black human races because they had the proper environments for them. The whole idea behind Thestra, Qalia, and Kojan was to allow for each of the major racial archetypes we're accustomed to on Earth. Warhammer Online is confined to geographical areas in which it just wouldn't make sense -- not to mention that the only two playable human races are the Imperials (see: Germanics) and the Norscans (see: Nordics).

Equatorial humans just wouldn't work. They'd make as much sense as Samurai from Altdorf, Buddhists from the Inevitable City, or Orcs with French accents.

I assert that if there was an MMO based on Ancient Egyptian mythology, people wouldn't bat an eyelash if it didn't include pale characters. This is simply the reverse scenario as far as I'm concerned.

I sympathise with your need to identify with your character -- I have a somewhat similar challenge in most MMOs because they don't have characters even remotely similar to my racial composition. But I usually understand why they don't.

I remember it, though I also can't remember the title. Whatever it was, it isn't on the game list here, nor on Wikipedia.

I thought it was dying when World of WarCraft did well, and further thought it was dying when Vanguard fell apart, as well as when Wolfpack Studios announced what looks like a sad testament to their desperation.

Now, though, with certain key projects on the horizon, it seems like we are in the eye of a storm.

In order to talk about anything, I kind of have to assume an intellectual property. It is the way my brain works. So, I am going to assume StarCraft for purposes of this post.

Premise
I agree with Pappy13 that it ought to be space-based. Firstly, to make it something other than a World of WarCraft makeover. Secondly, to compete with the unrivalled EVE Online and dubious upcoming Star Trek Online. Thirdly, because space is a much-neglected aspect of StarCraft and would be fresh new territory for Blizzard.

I would like infantry activity to consist of ship-to-ship boardings, station raids, and planet surface excursions to retrieve important artefacts and the like. Blizzard should like this approach especially because it saves on the amount of planet surface area that needs to be mapped if you have only key drop locations roughly the size of an RTS map. This seems to be what Star Trek Online is doing, and while I think it is an inappropriate approach for Star Trek, I think it is the most appropriate approach for StarCraft.

That said, I do believe that every character should begin as a character, not as a ship.

Graphical Style
It is my fondest wish that Blizzard darken the style compared to what we are seeing from StarCraft II. The oppressive atmosphere of the cinematics of StarCraft and StarCraft II is really lost to the in-game Fisher Price look, and I wonder if Blizzard would be capable of avoiding that in the MMO.

Character Appearance
Terrans divided into male and female, with the fully exaggerated sexual dimorphism that Blizzard seems to love. Protoss divided into male and female, with superficial sexual dimorphism (same build, same facial features; different voices, different animations). The playable Zerg would possibly be customised dynamically at each stage of metamorphosis, or perhaps rely on situational versatility rather than customisability -- I will cover both options shortly.

Character Progression
I imagine Terrans beginning at a command centre or starport, in uniform, preparing for flight training.

I imagine Protoss beginning at a nexus or stargate, in ceremonial garb, being inducted.

I'm sure that almost everyone can envision for themselves what Terran or Protoss gameplay would consist of, but there has been a lot of debate over the Zerg through the years, so I think the following break-down of their potential in the hypothetical MMO is warranted:

The Zerg
The Zerg are undoubtedly the most convenient of the StarCraft franchise's species when it comes to expanding and continuing the dynamics of the setting, because the beauty of the Zerg is that their rapid rate of reproduction, evolution, and metamorphosis allows you to do anything you need for that particular installment of the franchise. One of the primary problems often cited with adapting StarCraft into an MMO is the Zerg mechanics, but I think it is obvious that due to the nature of the Zerg their mechanics are almost infinitely flexible from game to game and therefore pose the least problems of either species.

Let's look at where Brood War left us. The Overmind is dead, the cerebrates are crippled and fighting amongst themselves, entire worlds of Zerg have been reduced to simple beasts with neither the Overmind nor their own cerebrate to guide them, Kerrigan is continuing to build her own brood, overthrowing the petty cerebrates, and Duran is working on some kind of genetic project involving the Zerg and the Protoss (which may or may not have been sanctioned by the Xel'Naga, but in either case seems to be coinciding with their return).

Whatever StarCraft II will do to this, I think it is reasonable to assume that there will not be a new Overmind, nor will the Zerg be exterminated. Whether Kerrigan will survive the end of StarCraft II is uncertain, so I will try to keep that irrelevant to my scenario.

Suppose the Xel'Naga did not sanction the Protoss-Zerg hybrids (as I find it unlikely that the ancient and wise Xel'Naga would figure that combining the two 'failures' that nearly destroyed them would be a good idea). Suppose that Duran is acting on the behalf of something else entirely, like the dead Overmind. After all, consider how it has been the Overmind's intent to incorporate the Protoss into the Swarm ever since it betrayed the Xel'Naga. Consider that Duran didn't betray the UED until the whole Psi Disruptor plan to control the Overmind came into play. My thought here is that the Overmind was aware of its impending fate and psionically influenced Duran, a psi-sensitive man with notoriously very loose convictions, to come to Char, and transferred itself to Duran before the Disruptor was activated. Consider that the mission in which the UED finally 'tamed' the Overmind (mission: 'To Chain the Beast') was the very same mission in which Duran suddenly appeared to be infested. The timing of these events, and Duran's apparent motives during the mission 'Dark Origin' seem to speak for themselves. He's a dead ringer for the Overmind -- the same personality when speaking to Zeratul, and the same goal.

The Overmind and the Xel'Naga were not friends. I don't understand why they would share the same goal. The Overmind completely backstabbed the Xel'Naga and then made a beeline for Aiur. That Duran is the Overmind may seem difficult to grasp in terms of his brain being able to contain all that knowledge, but it makes more sense than the Xel'Naga committing suicide by deciding that the Overmind had been right all along.

So, in regards to playable Zerg, the problem of free will, I propose the following:

The hybrid project ultimately fails, the Xel'Naga possibly containing or destroying the Overmind, possibly at great cost to themselves. Kerrigan continues to build her forces and manipulate them in her fashion, intent on a more self-reliant, less dependant Swarm. Stopping short of giving them complete freedom, the Queens are improved greatly, given new forms (obsoleting both the Overlords and Ultralisks) and individuality, yet still subservient to Kerrigan, who establishes herself as Empress. If she dies by the conclusion of StarCraft II, then I propose that she anticipate it and in preparation ensure that the Queens carry her will in them.

Either way, what has been done here is that the very tall pyramid of sentience in the Zerg (Overmind > Cerebrates > Overlords > Queens) has been shortened considerably (Empress > Queens), which should result in an overall more self-reliant Swarm without sacrificing the Hive Mind, giving ample opportunity for playable Zerg by allowing for free will without destroying the notion of total subservience -- because the subservience to the Queens here would not be out of psionic enslavement and direct control, but rather an instinctual understanding that they need the Queens to survive and reproduce. In other words: less Borg, more Xenomorph.

It is a significant evolution, I think. Maybe even something the Xel'Naga would be prouder of.

Lastly, in regards to the problem of travel needed for the space-based game (Terrans and Protoss can just board ships, pilot them, and exit them when finished, while a Hydralisk can never fly and a Mutalisk can never walk), my proposition is that the improved self-sufficiency of individual Zerg now allows them to direct their own metamorphosis to some extent, and that some trace of Duran's project allows them to utilise any genetic code the Zerg have stored in the local hive or its adjuvant structures, with the tolerance of the Queen -- who is to the local hive what FarScape's Pilot is to the Leviathan, except that if you defy her, the purple goo on the ground may eat you. So, this amounts to one of two possibilities:

A) Playable Zerg are a breed able to metamorphose from any form into any other form they have access to.
B) Playable Zerg are a breed which metamorphoses features individually over time as they gain access to them.

I suppose it depends whether versatility or customisability is more desired.

Amateur developers, sure. It happens all the time with projects like this. But a hoax? When has any game's development been a hoax? In what way would they be profiting from it?

To suggest that it will not be released or will not succeed is perfectly reasonable hypothesis, but words like 'hoax' in this context are just hilarious and could only be typed by someone who has no experience in, or knowledge of, this industry.

It is distressing to see such irrationality coming from a supposed 27-year-old like Huxflux2004. Grow up.

Doubts as to whether any game 'exists' are bizarre in the extreme.

Doubts as to whether they have the money and manpower to keep the development modern and finish the project are much less insane.

Yeah, I've been mentioning that domain name registration information ever since BioWare Austin formed, and I like to keep it in mind, but I also have difficulty imagining a Fallout MMO so close on the heels of Bethesda's Fallout 3, especially now that we know Bethesda is stepping into the MMO market themselves with an inhuman investment.

Typical Day 1 woes. Hardly a disaster.

Not that its frequency makes it less annoying, but you should be yelling at the entire online gaming market, not Flagship.
 

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Originally posted by Alalala

 

But, hey, Hellgate: Vanguard is now live!

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 Didn't Vanguard have one of the more stable first days in terms of server uptime?

Originally posted by mxmissile

It's sad we the users *still* put up with crap releases!  Why does this happen?  IMO its the fanboi's fault, they stick up for crappy service and lazy developers like this.  They are ruining the entire PC gaming industry.  Until *everyone* demands better service and quality, we will never get it.

It is kind of the nature of any high-load server to buckle on the first day, whether it is being used to host an MMO or not. Multimillion dollar website launches do this. Online banking services do this. It's not a failure of technical expertise as much as the near impossibility of accurately estimating what the load will be.

Isn't Obsidian making Knights of the Old Republic III, anyway? I'm pretty sure it is they who have the rights.

Sorry to keep mentioning this over the many months, but Gordon Walton also owns FalloutOnline.com

I don't have a preference between Mass Effect and Knights of the Old Republic so long as the MMO is for the PC.

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Originally posted by MCEscher

A Harry Potter MMO is much more likely, given the popularity of Harry Potter and the fact that there is no HP MMO.

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BioWare has been working on this MMO since well before the EA deal, and it is EA who owns the Harry Potter gaming licence.

I'm sure now that EA owns BioWare they'll want BioWare to make use of their IPs, but I doubt they would change the IP of their current MMO project while it is under development.

I love BioWare for what they did with Knights of the Old Republic and I love Obsidian even more for what they did with Knights of the Old Republic II (I know it was awfully buggy and incomplete, but the dark atmosphere was fantastic and the style elegant). However, I do certainly have strong fears in regards to what a KotOR MMO may be, and I think a Forgotten Realms MMO may be not only safer for the time being, but also a giant breath of classic love for fantasy fans, a hearkening back to what BioWare did so well years ago. No one captured the Realms like BioWare/Black Isle did with the Baldur's Gate series.

It's not my favourite fantasy setting, nor do I crave a fantasy setting more than a sci-fi setting right now -- I just think that it would be the perfect entrance BioWare could make into the MMO market.

That or Planescape. Hell, no one else has the licence....

So it is licenced, eh?

Well, they still own FalloutOnline.com, as I've been obnoxiously mentioning for years, but whatever the case, I'm impressed that they've been able to keep a licence acquisition secret for so long. Normally when someone buys rights to an IP you hear about it well before you ever hear about what kind of project it will be used for.

We're limiting this to multiplayer games, but not necessarily to massively multiplayer games? Very well.

1. Baldur's Gate II
2. EVE Online
3. Vanguard (Beta 2-3)

Though an easy 1 from me would have been cooperative multiplayer support in the Oblivion campaign. I've been longing for an open world RPG for LAN/TCP-IP play for years. Someone make it so!